Funding
3D Ventures and its affiliates agreed yesterday to invest $30m in Evolve Additive Solutions, a US-based thermoplastics manufacturing technology developer spun off by 3D printer provider Stratasys. Tool producer Stanley Black & Decker, toy manufacturer Lego and an undisclosed third investor provided $19m in funding for Evolve in 2017 before the former added an undisclosed amount in June 2020.
CollegeDekho, an India-based online education discovery service spun off by software development services provider GirnarSoft, has raised $26.5m in series B funding from Man Capital, a vehicle for conglomerate Mansour Group, as well as Winter Capital Partners, ETS Strategic Capital, Calega and private investor Rajeev Chaba, YourStory reported yesterday. GirnarSoft and Man Capital provided $8m for the company in mid-2019 to take its overall funding to $13m.
Eden Network, the US-headquartered creator of a transaction protocol for the Ethereum cryptocurrency, has secured $17.4m in a seed round that included quantitative trading firms GSR and Alameda Research, Coin Telegraph reported yesterday. Multicoin Capital led the round, which also featured Jump Capital, Wintermute, DeFiance Capital and angel investors Joshua Lim and Andre Cronje.
Indonesia-based e-commerce facilitator Sirclo recently received $16m in series B funding from investors including online travel booking service Traveloka, which invested $5m, DealStreetAsia reported today. Conglomerate Sinar Mas’s SMDV subsidiary and OCBC NISP Ventura, subsidiary of financial services firm OCBC NISP, also took part, along with Baltimore Investments, Meranti Global Investment and East Ventures. Sirclo had raised at least $56m as of a $45m series B3 round led by SMDV in May this year.
Hashed, a VC affiliate of automotive component producer Wanxiang, has invested $7m in GetMega, the India-based developer of an online gaming platform that uses real money, as part of a $15m series B round, Entrackr has reported. The round included Nexus Ventures and Accel India, the two investors which had provided $2m in seed funding for GetMega in 2018 and $9m in series A financing as of May this year.
Belgium-headquartered online training platform developer Myskillcamp is raising €12m ($14.2m) from investors including business media services provider Mediahaus, which is investing $4.2m, Netherlands News Live has reported. Wapinvest, Riverside Growth Fund, Inventures and Conviction VC are also taking part in the round, which comes after $1.1m from WapInvest, LeanSquare, Seederfund and SIBA in 2018.
US-based interactive content software developer Tiled completed a $13.7m series A round yesterday featuring enterprise software producer Adobe. VC fund Signal Peak Ventures led the round, which was also backed by Seismic Ventures and University Growth Fund. The company had raised $1.5m altogether as of a 2018 seed round led by Kickstart Seed Fund, and $3.8m as of a $1.5m round co-led by Kickstart Seed Fund and Stage 2 Capital in May 2019.
Quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group and VC firm Bessemer Venture Partners have co-led a $10m series A round for India-based online corporate insurance portal Nova Benefits, VCCircle reported today, citing a company statement. Multiply Ventures, Better Capital and Titan Capital also contributed to the round, having co-led a $1m seed round in May this year that included angel investors Sumit Maniyar and Ashish Goyal.
E-commerce group Alibaba’s eWTP Technology and Innovation Fund has invested $10m in Vietnam-based commerce brand Ficus Asia Investment, increasing its stake to almost 21%, DealStreetAsia reported today, citing a regulatory filing. The same investor had supplied $50m for Ficus in October 2020 at a $370m valuation. That investment took the company’s overall funding to over $71m and its existing backers include The Quaternary Group, Aurora Global and Mizuho ASEAN Investment.
Crypto market maker Wintermute and digital asset trader Skynet Trading took part in a $9m funding round for SubQuery, a Singapore-based developer of decentralised data aggregation technology, yesterday. Arrington XRP Capital, Digital Currency Group and Stratos Technologies co-led the round, which included Hypersphere Ventures and Neo Global Capital. The company had raised $1.8m in seed funding from DeFi Alliance, D1 Ventures, Hypersphere Ventures, Digital Finance Group and The Lao in March this year.
Japan-headquartered crypto network Octopus Network has closed a $5m series A round featuring Bitcoin exchange Gate.io. The round included Continue, Youbi Capital, DCG, GFS Ventures, Vestigium, Autonomy Capital, LCG Ventures, Bluehelix, Finance Ventures, Jubi Lab, GTA Venture, Gains Associates, Aussie Capital, K300 Venture, Mayor Capital, NetZero Capital, Elevate, Chainridge, Megala Ventures, VIC Group, Jigsaw, OIG Ventures, Bigcoin Capital, Meridian Capital, Westorm and Move Capital. It followed $1m from Near Foundation, and $3m in seed funding from D1 Ventures, SevenX Ventures, Puzzle Ventures, PNYX Capital, Electric Capital, Ascensive Assets, Origin Capital, ZMT Capital, Bixin, OKEx Block Dream Fund, Spark Digital, ChainX, Stafi and NGC Ventures in April this year.
WealthPark, the Japan-based operator of a software platform for the management of real estate, has secured an undisclosed amount from Hamagin DG Innovation Fund, a joint venture between internet company Digital Garage and financial services firm Bank of Yokohama. The company raised $23m from investors including Japan Investment Corporation in March this year, following $8.6m in series B funding from financial services firms Aozora Bank, SBI (through SBI Investment) and Mizuho Bank (through Mizuho Capital) as well as Japan Finance Corporation, in August 2020. That came after a $4.8m series A round in 2019.
Drive by DraftKings, the early-stage investment vehicle for daily fantasy sports operator DraftKings, has led a $4m funding round for Israel-headquartered game studio Toya, VentureBeat reported yesterday. The unit was joined by Remagine Ventures, Powerhouse Capital, 1Up Ventures and angel investors Craig Sherman and Eli Manning.
Shipping firm AP Moller – Maersk provided an undisclosed amount of funding for US-based sustainable fuel technology developer WasteFuel yesterday. The corporate invested through corporate venturing vehicle Maersk Growth and the cash will be used by WasteFuel to develop its biorefineries.
Online career platform operator DHI Group supplied $3m in funding yesterday for The Muse, the US-based owner of an online recruitment marketplace focused on young users. The company has earmarked the funding for sales and product development activities.
Thiozen, a US-based developer of low-emission hydrogen energy technology, received $3m yesterday in a seed round led by energy utility Eni’s strategic investment arm, Eni Next. The round also featured Good Growth Capital and Mount Wilson Ventures, and the capital will fund the development of a pilot facility.
US-based life science tool developer Active Motif received an undisclosed amount from antibody and protein producer Proteintech Group yesterday. Active Motif had previously secured $3.6m from unnamed investors in 2013, according to a regulatory filing.
Financial services group JS Group led a $1.6m seed round for Pakistan-based online healthcare platform developer Ailaaj yesterday that also featured healthcare provider Fazal Din Group. The round was also backed by Leonine Tech Ventures and unnamed private equity investors from East Asia.
M&A
Enterprise software producer Workday agreed yesterday to acquire portfolio company Zimit, the US-based creator of a configure price quote software platform for the service industries, for an undisclosed amount. The company had secured $2m in funding from Workday’s corporate venturing unit, Workday Ventures, in July 2019.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
